Alzheimer’s disease is a difficult disease for any family to treat. When I got married more than 15 years ago, my father-in-law was a person who told jokes and played luck cards. At first we did not understand what started to happen to him. At first, we thought it was just part of aging. He would forget what he was doing, or where he put the keys or some other strange thing. At that moment we did not realize that we were all about to embark on a long and difficult road.
Alzheimer’s disease affects the mind in such a way that the person (at least in our situation) cannot function in normal situations. It is the most common cause of dementia. Alzheimer’s disease affects approximately 4.5 million Americans.
A person with Alzheimer’s disease may forget the simplest of words, put things in the wrong places, and have a loss of mental functioning, including language, family recognition, reading, and writing.
In our situation, Dad began to live more and more in the past and less and less in the present. Once when Daddy’s wife was sick and in the hospital, he couldn’t remember where he was. “Where is she?” Dad asked. “He’s in the hospital,” we reply. Five minutes later, we would repeat the same discussion. We would do this over and over again.
In our case, as Alzheimer’s disease progressed, Dad stopped recognizing us. Once my wife was visiting and Dad yelled and yelled at the strange woman who had come up. Dad even threw a punch when the stranger known as his son entered the house.
Alzheimer’s disease is a disease that never seems to stop. As Dad’s condition worsened, he began to wander not knowing where he was. We had to get a door alarm to go off when the door was opened to prevent her from leaving. However, even that didn’t work all the time. Once, in winter, Dad went out in his pajamas. We had to call the police to help us find him.
Now Dad has moved into a secure assisted living facility that is designed to care for Alzheimer’s patients. He seems happy, but it is difficult for us to see his life so drained of what it was and what it could be if he did not have Alzheimer’s disease. I believe that Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects the whole family. If we visit him, he does not know who we are. He doesn’t even remember we were there. You still remember that you were married, but you don’t remember who you were married to.
What Causes Alzheimer’s Disease? Doctors don’t know for sure. Doctors know that each patient reacts differently to disease and the disease progresses differently for each person. There is still no treatment for the disease. For our family, we are comforted to know that Dad is happy and does not suffer, even if he no longer knows us.